Hi all, happy me, discard 1.5 lbs (said I would do 2 but still happy). So that is 4.5 lbs loss even after gaining that pesky 2 lbs.
Arctic, I watched the Dr Ben podcast and learnt even more about my diabetes. Just because I have it doesnt make me an expert except for what I seek out myself and with the help of others because the medical profession either dont tell us or just dont know. Dr Ben suggests it is the latter. You cant expect GP’s to know everything and I dont have a diabetic specialist here in France. Anyway, I digress. The interesting thing was about never being tested for insulin levels. We know they give us drugs to lower our glucose then encourage us to eat carbs to increase our glucose so we dont go into a coma. I have always likened it to giving an alcoholic more and more alcohol to stop them craving it. Dr Bikman likens it to pouring water over a drowning man. Surely with all the injections there must be a lot of insulin sloshing about in my system, making it unnecessary for my body to bother any more. Someone on this site totally stopped insulin injections not long after starting the plan (was it Krysia) and I have always aimed for that but never had the courage to just stop – I know it would be dangerous, which is why I keep doing it slowly. For all you non- diabetics on here, sorry to be boring. This calls for another chat with my doctor on treatments. Maybe there is a specialist nearby but we all know that they will tell us… take the meds and eat lots of carbs. Bugger that, I am low carb all the way and might try to get even lower.
One thing I have noticed is that during Covid my ability (motivation) to plan everything I eat seems to have gone out of the window and I have been following the same 7 day menu plan on my fridge door for the last 4 months at least. Need to shake things up and get myself organised again. Reminds me of when we first went into lockdown I decided to treat it as a couple of weeks at a spa – did my nails, styled my hair, wore makeup even when I wasnt going anywhere, got dress up (or at least bothered to get dressed). Now I just can be bothered, it is going on too long. Sorry, everyone else is in the same situation. We are unlocked here in France but I still dont want to go anywhere.
Gone on a bit, will stop for now. Enjoy the weather, dont get burnt and stay safe. It is 41 degrees here today, even too hot to swim.

Hi Sunshine-girl,

I know that Dr Fung’s clinic runs a scheme of having approved affiliate doctors around the world who support diabetics. Maybe it would be worth checking on his website, or asking through the facebook group for Dr Fung for assistance to find a doctor you could work with in your neck of the woods?

Hi All, had a hard couple of weeks as my 12 y o daughter got covid (the only one of the 5 in our household to not get sick in March with it)- confirmed with positive test both times- so back into isolation, rearrange life again, and it’s really brought me down into a nasty depression (I have bipolar)- however  today I feel a little better than yesterday so 🙏 might be coming out of it….had been really good on the diet but relaxed a bit too much this week, I think I’ve done 8 weeks now, so wanting to start some more than 800 cals days even tho I still have considerable weight to lose, I just feel my body and mind are asking for a little relaxation of the rules. I’ve lost 22 lbs, 6″ off my waist, and feeling heaps better already, and getting so many compliments, which is amaze balls! Typically I have been losing 2 lbs pw, this week was only 1, but last week was 3, so that’s ok….I think I need a bit of a plan, or some ideas, on how to arrange my cals and make sure that I still have some days at 800 and also stick mainly to the meditteranean diet with the occasional treat. All advice welcome, thanks peeps, missed you last couple of weeks!

Hi Tulip1
Sorry to hear about your family and covid, and the emotional roller coaster.

I would suggest that rather than focusing on calories you focus on monitoring carb and protein levels. – Think of it this way, keep carbs down and protein enough for body maintenance and then your body will be using fat for fuel. – It could be the food you have previously eaten which has been stored as body fat, or it could be the food you eat. But that is the way to long term success of maintaining, and you can step on and off the wagon as you need to if you need to discard more.

Hi all, Tulip, sorry you are going through a bad time, hope your daughter gets well soon.
JGwen, not sure how I contact Dr Fung, tried his website and was led to buying diet plans.
Dr Bikman says the only was out of the diabetic spiral is low carb. I have been doing that for 4 years and although I have had good stabilizing results – reduced meds and injections, staved off any diabetic complications, I have never got to a place where I feel I am getting ‘better’, just staying well. I must be better or I would probably be having other problems by now and I am much weller than I was 4 years ago. I guess I want cured.
lost another quarter pound so my 2 lb promise is at 1 3/4 lb, nearly there. At least it has spurred me on to try harder and on the subject of getting better, I am going to try to reduce my carbs from 50gm to 30gm as a start. Always struggled to get lower that 50 as it impacted on my calories, making them go too low as well. I am going to look at low carb foods (not veg) to see if I can shake up my diet. For example, yesterday I was going to have cheesy scrambled egg for breakfast and probably a veg based but carbs lunch. I decided to have a greek yoghurt with raspberries for breakfast and saved the egg for lunch. That was a total of 8 carbs and adding up everything else I was around 25 g carbs but my calories were only 650. Maybe that is okay for a short time. KOKO.

Hi all,
Hope you are all ok. @tulip – I hope your daughter is doing ok. Understand that you have had to focus on other things. I think JGwen’s advice to go lightly and keep the carbs down is a good one.
I’ve been spending some time listening to podcasts, reading articles and watching YouTube videos and a term I keep coming across is metabolic flexibility. This means that your body is able to use different sources of energy and that it can switch between these sources. For a real short explanation, watch this:
https://youtu.be/InUaCpF0ytQ
I’m putting this on top of my list of things I want to achieve. It goes hand in hand with healing a broken metabolism due to insulin resistance, and also keeping the metabolism up which I think is something some of us struggle with during calorie restriction.
For a slightly longer (still less than 10 min) talk om metabolic flexibility, this video explains it in more detail. The good news are that low carb and healthy fats are key – that we already know – but it also emphasise the role of being outdoors (light and oxygen) and exercise to boost your mitochondria.
https://youtu.be/MOgmzQN-z1E
(Have to add that I’m not a big fan of supplements – I believe real food should be enough, but perhaps good at times.)
For me the aim of this way of eating is health, the weight loss is part of it, but should rather be a result of better health (as in a healed metabolism, and metabolic flexibility) than something forced by any means.
This is not meant as a pointer to anyone, just sharing some thinking. Especially for those of us who have been doing this for some time, it is sometimes good to re-energize the WHY we are doing this. So food for thought.
Have a great day!

Thanks Olive – that’s really useful I haven’t seen that before. I think I need a lot of metabolic flexibility given how bad my keto flu is at the moment.
Unfortunately the advice to take salt hasn’t helped much – my body isn’t adjusting well again. Perhaps I shouldn’t take breaks to avoid this, but on the other hand, cycling onto and off of carbs may be a good way to improve my metabolic flexibility longer term.

I know many people have recommended Dr Fung’s videos – I’ve watched a few over recent days and think everyone on this diet should watch them.

This one is particularly good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nJgHBbEgsE

Happy Sunday to you all. Thanks for the links Olive, I will certainly look at those. Although I gained half a pound (no reason) I have reduced my insulin yet again. Now down to 25 units from 32 at the beginning of July. It will help with weight loss, or at least help prevent more weight gain.
Jeremy, I have never suffered from keto flu but do get cramps from the fluid loss that comes from low carbs. Instead of thinking table salt, if you live in the UK you can still buy Andrews Liver Salts which are a balance of electrolytes. A teaspoon in water every other day should do it, no more or you will get their other benefit – the ease constipation.
No news, not been anywhere, not done anything, same old….. Hey ho.

Morning all from a sunny corner of the world (for once!). I’m just off to walk the dog and just wanted to say that since I’ve gone back to the gym last week when it reopened I’m really hungry! I know that I have a bigger appetite when I exercise and, in the past, have lost more weight when I don’t exercise, but I love the feeling I have when I’m doing a class which lasts a long time after so I’m just making sure I eat nuts and making sure I don’t eat outside the times I allow for eating which is between noon and 8pm each day. Since I’ve started TRE I have just been having an evening meal and using my 800 calories on salads fit for a queen but now I need to have something at noon if I’ve done a class as otherwise I get headaches. I naturally drink lots of water, always have. This isn’t a health thing I’m just a thirsty person. I’ve also decided to cut out my nightly glasses of wine, it’s dead calories and doing me no good for my long term health. That comes with other issues now and my sleeping has been hit and miss but I’m sticking with it as it just seems hypocritical that I’m focusing on my long term health and hoping to stave off diabetes yet drinking wine on a nightly basis.
I got on scales today, and in total have lost 4lbs which considering we were away for a week means I’ve lost a further 1lb since I’ve started this WOL. I’m pleased with that because another 2lbs means I go into the next stone bracket. I am also going to take my measurements tomorrow as I’ve got a load of gym classes booked next week so it will encourage me to see a difference in my measurements if the scales don’t move much. I’m grabbing as many gym classes as I can because we live very close to Northern towns in the UK who have been put on lock down again. If this happens to us, there are lots of fitness classes on YouTube I can take advantage of.
Anyway, the dog is giving me sad eyes now so it’s time to take him for a walk. Have a good Sunday all.

Hi Olive, Good to encounter another serial searcher for articles on the forum. I think you will like this one which covers much more about the science of metabolic flexibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4qVdiCzNck

It explained one thing for me, those of us who are IR are locked in a cycle of struggling to get our bodies to return to a more normal response to small amounts of carbs. – This clearly explained how we get locked into that setting and need to go so low carb to reset our response.

Thank you everyone- I feel a little more stable since coming out of isolation and having a day at the beach yesterday- some good things to look at and think about there ☺☺
Definitely struggling with sticking to my 800 cals and the right kinds of foods atm.

xx

I have been busy the last couple of days but have just caught up with the thread.Good to see JGwen posting regularly and giving her usual sound, well researched advice.
I am about to set up the new weekly thread and really hope that we can catch up with everyone